The present invention relates generally to a method of cutting an animal carcass into edible meat products and, more particularly, to a method of cutting a knuckle, such as a beef knuckle, into a plurality of high value cuts or meat products.
The butchering and dressing of animals, such as cattle, for the purpose of producing edible meat or beef products is generally well known. Typically, such animals are butchered into well known meat products such as rib roasts, sirloin steaks, strip steaks, or the like. Typically, a side or quarter of beef is butchered by a meat cutter cutting or otherwise removing from the standing side or beef quarter as many "high value" beef products as feasible. Such high value beef products include roasts, steaks, and the like. Typically, once such high value cuts or products are removed from the standing side or beef quarter, the products are further processed by deboning, trimming, cleaning, and the like, and are thereafter wrapped and sold for relatively high per pound prices. The other less desirable or lower value components are also removed from the remainder of the side or beef quarter and along with any components trimmed from the higher value products, are placed into a meat grinder for making ground beef. Additional beef from other sources may also be added to the components in the grinder. The quality of the ground beef depends upon the source of the components being placed in the grinder (i.e., chuck, round, etc.), the amount of fat, and other factors. However, the per pound price of the ground beef is substantially less than the per pound price of the higher value products.
As the price of bringing beef and other animal products to market has risen, a need has also arisen for obtaining enhanced value from the beef or other animal. One way to provide such enhanced value is to reduce the amount of the beef which is placed in the meat grinder and to sell the beef which would have been placed into the meat grinder at a per pound price in excess of the price of the ground beef. The present invention comprises a method of cutting an animal or beef knuckle to provide new beef products having enhanced value. The knuckle generally comprises the lower portion of the round or hind leg of the animal and is generally not considered to be suitable for high quality products because it does not contain a large solid muscle component. A beef knuckle, in particular, contains many seams, membranes, cartilage, etc., and so the knuckle is typically used today only for the purpose of forming ground beef or perhaps a low value roast, such as a pot roast. The present invention comprises a method of removing from the knuckle one or more small muscles, each of which comprises substantially solid pieces of meat with minimal fat, cartilage, membrane, or the like. Each such muscle may thereafter be cut into high quality beef products which may be sold at relatively high per pound prices, particularly when compared with the price of ground beef. Because of the relatively high beef, low fat content, each such beef product can be considered to be "heart healthy". In addition to employing the present method in connection with a beef knuckle from the hind leg of an animal, the present invention may also be applicable to a knuckle from some other animal and/or to a knuckle from the front leg of any such animal.